The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-05-28
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
CAPABILITIES OF WELLS.


Various attempts are in progress to get from
artesian wells not only water but power and heat
as well. Machinery is already driven by the pres
sure in France, and experience shows that the
heat may be increased by adding to the depth of
the well. At Grenelle we'll 1902 feet deep, and
yielding daily 100000 gallons, has pressure of
sixty pounds to the square inch, and the water is
so hot that it is employed for heating hospitals in
the vicinity. The deepest we'll in the world is
being sunk at Pesth, Hungary, to supply hot water
for public baths. 1t now yields daily 1860 gal
Ions heated to 15S degrees, and the boring is to be
continued until the temperature is raised to l76
degrees.
A REMARKABLE PEOPLE.
Acurious anthropoogical discovery is announced
from Spain by Prof. Miguel Marazta In the VAL
ley of Rebas, at the end of the Eastern Pyrenees,
there exists somewhat numerous group of peo-
pie, called "Nanos," or dwarfs, by the other in
habitants. They are less than four feet tall, are
quite well built, with small hands and feet, and
are given an exaggerated appearance of robust
ness by broad hips and shoulders. All have red
hair; the face is as broad long, with high cheek
bones, strongly developed jaws and fiat nose. The
ewes are somewhat oblique, like those of Tartars
and Chinese. A few struggling hairs take the
place of beard. The skin is pale and fabby.-
Men and women are so much alike that the sex
can only be told from the clothing. They are
without education, and, being ridiculed by the
other inhabitants, live by themselves, and continue
to reproduce their peculiarities by intermarriage
among themselves.
IN TIMES OF PEACE.
The energy of chemists is now being largely d.
rected to the development of improved methods of
destruction and in addition to the lately described
"bellite' many new explosives are under trial.
The French "melinite" is among them, and is said
to be as much superior to nitro glycerine as the
latter is to common gunpowder. Its destructive
effects made especially terrible by the fact that
bombs charged with it do not explode for some
little time after penetrating wall or other obsta-
Gle. In Germany new she'll contains two sepa-
rately harmless substances, which are forced to-
gether by the striking of the bomb, and unite with
an explosion. Berlin inventor has produced an
explosive called roburite, which is effective, but
is dangerous to handle and deteriorates.
FLORAL CLOCK.
"There is a very delightful way in which you
may tell the hour of day By means of flowers,
rather imaginatively asserts Mr.. Frederic IT,
Mather "There are twenty -four varieties OF plants
whose blossoms open successfully at the dlherent
. hours of the day and night. will mention only
three or four. The African marigold opens at
seven in the evening and closes at four in the
morning; but if it does not open, the next day
will be rainy. Many varieties of the water lily
close and sink into the water at shutdown to arise
and bloom at SUNRISE The day lily opens at five
o'clock in the morning, and the morning glory a
little later. The night blooming cereus opens only
at night and it closes long before dawn"
INSECT ENDURANCE OF COLD.
1t is an error to suppose that severe winters are
destructive to insect life, according to Mr.. Nc
Lachlan, an English entomologist. Larvae may
be frozen until as brittle as rotten sticks in which
condition they scarcely be said to live, but on
the return of warm weather they revive, quite un-
injured by their freezing. 1t is noteworthy fact
that butterflies and humble have been found
almost as close to the North Pole as man has ever
approached.
MISCELLANEOUS.
satisfactory method of electroplating with
platinum has been patented and put in operation
in uvuuvn- Tire vv~siHs prvauoOa 10 L-.a a~t"-
BILE and corrosion- proof, having in these respects
great advantage over silver, brass or copper sur
faces.
Experiments by French medical men seem to
have proven that consciousness life and feeling
continue for few seconds after decapitation, but
that pain is probably not felt on account Of the
rapid death of nervous elements.
Supernumerary toes and fingers are said to be
of quite frequent occurrence among certain Afri-
can tribes. DIR. Stoekly mentions the case of a
Cafre, eighteen years old, who had six fingers on
each hand. His parents, four sisters and brother
had the same, and his mother had also double
series of toes on both feet
A system of standard time, similar to that now
prevailing for railway purposes in this country,
will probably be adopted by the Norwegian Par
lament. The time for the whole of Norway will
be one hour in advance of that of the Greenwich
Observatory in England.
new absorbent preparation is made from the
cocoanut fibre. 1t is called coferdam, and will
hold like sponge from twelve to fourteen times
its own weight of water.
The slopes of Etna and Vesuvius owe their rich
ness to the fertilizing action of volcanic ashes
reports from New Zealand indicate that the ashes
from last years eruption have enriched the soil to
remarkable degree.
Stations for the study of zoology seem to be in
creasing in favor among naturalists. The first Of
these stations in a tropical land has just been
founded at Batavia, Java, by Dr. SHUTTER. Means
for establishing three tables and for purchasing a
boat have been provided by the Natural History
Society of the Dutch Indies.